


come to me

by Sasskarian



Series: Home is Where You Are [1]
Category: Mass Effect, Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Innuendo, Pre-Romance, Slow Build, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, and SAM plays matchmaker, and sara is a hot mess, in which jaal has a heart the size of heleus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-05
Updated: 2017-04-05
Packaged: 2018-10-15 00:40:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10547088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sasskarian/pseuds/Sasskarian
Summary: A Trail of Hope spoilers inside-Jaal paused from rinsing the bowl from dinner, enjoying the simple pleasure of the running water over his skin for another moment before prudence forced him to shut it off.Things had gone well today, all things considered.By well, of course, he meant absolutely terrible in all manner.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Warning that this is an early draft, so some minor wording may change, but the plot is there to stay. Spoilers for Jaal's loyalty mission, A Trail of Hope, below.

**2819 CE | Andromeda Galaxy | Heleus Cluster | Orbiting Voeld**

*******

Sara knew that rescuing Moshae Sjefa would be hard.

And, in a way, it was meant to be hard; they were testing her. Evfra, damn that arrogant smirk, had declared it an impossible task. If she hadn’t had SAM to interface and take down the shield, it _would_ have been.

Although-- she rolled her shoulders without thinking and hissed, earning herself a sharp look from Doctor T’Perro-- it would do her weary soul some good to see the shock on the Resistance leader’s face when she walked in with their missing… Moshae. She wanted to like Evfra, sensed there was something pained and broken under that cold exterior, but damn if the man didn't make it _difficult_ ; some days, she wanted to punch him to save time.

“You’ve got to stop getting into fights like this, Sara,” Lexi chided her gently, settling the fabricated plastic cast around her arm. “I’m going to have a word for Lieutenant Harper for refining your Charging ability. And I want you to take it _easy_ on the biotics for a day or so; your implant is a little loose and you’re going to have a headache from channeling so much energy through it.”

Sara thought she could feel one of those headaches coming on already. There was a greasy, nauseated feeling crawling up her throat, and from her ears to her shoulder blades, she ached. No biotic, no matter how talented, could take the kind of special hell that was battling an entire kett outpost and a superior kett, without walking away with a few injuries and bruises.

She just hadn’t counted on the worst of them being internal.

She rolled her shoulders again, trying to loosen the knot between them, and gasped; moving her forearm up too far had sent a white-hot bolt of pain singing up her nerves.

“Sara!” Lexi huffed, hurrying to her side. “I can’t give you another painkiller so soon, even with a biotic’s metabolism.”

“Ow,” Sara said, trying for a smile, her other hand fisted in the hem of her shirt. “Guess I’ll have to find another way to get rid of those knots.”

Lexi gave her an inscrutable look, the corners of her lips quirked up; on anyone else, it might have been a smirk.

“Well, I don’t recommend trying to take on another battalion of kett,” Lexi agreed blandly. “No matter who you’re trying to impress.”

“How long will I be limp, Doc?” Sara asked, swinging her legs like a child and ignoring the motherly jab. “A month? Two?”

“Hardly.” Lexi laughed, checking her omni-tool. “We had some ossification injections in the medical kit and we can make more. You’ll be down for a day or two, but it will be painful.” She fixed Sara with a pointed stare. “As you’re finding out.” 

“I can handle painful,” Sara laughed around a bright smile, hopping down from the table. “I’ll just play some logic games with SAM if I need a distraction.”

* * *

Lexi watched Sara walk out of the med bay, two fingers idly stroking her jaw. 

Their Ryder wasn’t what she was expecting, when she signed on with Harry and Alec. Alec had been taciturn and formidable, often able to win a battle without firing a shot. She had expected some of that in Ryder, had expected the quick mind and Pathfinder talent. She’d even expected some temper—Alec’s had been famous in certain Alliance circles—but she’d never counted on… chipper. Alec had been far from personable. Not to say he wasn't _charismatic_ but he wasn't the sort to get personal and entangled with his team. Sara, on the other hand, had put in extra effort to make everyone comfortable, and a very familial sort of tie was forming, drawing the crew to her, in response to her cheer. 

Normally, or what Lexi had some to think of as their normal, she wouldn’t have looked past Sara’s sunny smile. 

The bio-scans didn’t lie, though. Cortisol and adrenaline levels were elevated, norepinephrine slowly dropping, and she had a heart rate Lexi thought would be more suited to a marathon runner at the finish line than her patient. Lexi took every chance she had to scan Sara, and had noticed that the chemical markers of stress had been steadily increasing over the last week or so. 

For all that Sara was quite cheerful, shouldering her burden as the single hope of the Initiative to date, she was absolutely faking it at the moment.

* * *

“Okay, guys,” Sara said over dinner, once everyone had reached the 'comfortable and willing to bicker' stage. “We’re gonna take the slow route to Aya, a couple of days or so, to collate our information and give Moshae Sjefa time to recover. Plus, you know,” she waved her cast briefly, carefully, “I can’t do much with this arm for a bit.” 

“I will take some nutrient paste to her later tonight,” Jaal volunteered, pushing his bowl away; he had politely declined any of Drack’s stew, and only a combination of fierce glares from Sara and Lexi had made the old krogan back down. “It will be good to check on her without being accused of fussing.” 

“She’s gonna see right through that, big guy,” Peebee chirped, helping herself to another ladle. “Women of any species are good at that.” 

“But it saves my face when she does,” he laughed exhaustedly, scratching unconsciously at the tape strips holding two thin slices in his neck closed. Lexi knew they would likely be gone by morning. She had patched his shoulder with medi-gel and bandages, but it had been mostly precaution; the wound had, to her surprise, begun to heal already. She had plans to research the Angara's use of bioelectricity and see if it had helped speed his recovery. 

“I think you mean it saves face for you, mate.” Liam grinned over his glass and high-fived Gil as the mechanic snickered. “You’re still having trouble with our slang.” 

“No,” laughed Jaal, relaxing into the banter. “I mean it literally saves my face. She might be less inclined to throw something at me if I have food for her.” 

Lexi watched Sara watching the crew as the meal was abandoned in favor of the impromptu storytelling. The smile she gave Drack was small but real and the big veteran reached over and ruffled her hair before launching into a story about Kesh when she was young and taking apart half their home; since Alec's sudden death, Sara and Drack appeared to have silently but mutually adopted each other. 

She laughed at the right cues from Peebee and Liam, and nodded at Cora—Lexi made a note to keep an eye on the two of them for more tension. 

Sara contributed bits and pieces as required but spent most of the time with her eyes on Jaal and Vetra, who’d been with her in the kett base. Lexi smiled to herself and sipped her water. Sara must have thought she was being subtle, but to an asari who’d seen countless humans fall in love, it was written all over her the last week. 

Her reaction to their new crew member was the only reason Lexi hadn’t called her on her rising stress. 

She wondered if they knew or were still dancing around each other. She turned her eyes towards Jaal and caught the lingering look he gave Sara as she looked away, laughing at something on Vetra’s datapad, and thought she had her answer.

* * *

Jaal paused from rinsing the bowl from dinner, enjoying the simple pleasure of the running water over his skin for another moment before prudence forced him to shut it off.

Things had gone well today, all things considered.

By well, of course, he meant absolutely terrible in all manner – _except_ for rescuing the Moshae. The exaltation facility still stood, though he had no doubt someone would destroy it eventually. But the lives of all those innocents who hadn’t been exalted yet had won over the Moshae’s pain, as much as he loved her. 

_Ryder’s green eyes locked on his and he felt raw and exposed. The shot he’d taken to the shoulder oozed, staining his rofjinn a deeper blue, and he could feel the trembling in his legs and hands from exertion. The rage and fear he felt, even as he looked at the kett female trying to bargain and Sjefa lying weak and fragile on the ground. The need to move, run, shoot,_ something _, was strong enough to have him gripping his gun hard enough to hear the metal creak_ _._

_“Ryder...”_  

_She kept looking at him, something flickering in her expression that frustrated him—he wasn’t proficient at reading humans yet—and she turned to Vetra, the turian who’d accompanied them_ _. Jaal was beginning to count Vetra as a friend, and knew she was skilled in a crisis. Vetra glanced at Jaal and carefully shrugged, the aim of her rifle never wavering far from the cardinal’s head._ _“_

_"There’s no time to open hundreds of pods, let alone help the Angara inside. Not if you’re going to destroy this place, too.” Vetra sighed. "I think it's going to be one or the other, Ryder."_

_Jaal felt something fragile in him beginning to break under Sara’s hardening expression, and he looked at Sjefa and then at Ryder, pain thick in his voice_ _._  

_“We can come_ back _to destroy it. Let’s free these here, now.”_  

_Sara nodded_ _thoughtfully_ _, weighing the hundreds of lives against the need to wipe the facility off the face of Voeld_ _._  

_“All right.” She turned that flaying gaze on the cardinal, who actually flinched. “Release the Angara below.”_  

That was another thing that had gone right today. He’d learned more about Ryder. _Sara_. The two of them had been gently flirting with one another for a few days, something he’d felt conflicted over, despite it remaining friendly. After all, she was an alien from another galaxy, and his people had reason to be wary of aliens. Still… 

A small smile touched his lips as he remembered her stepping right up, interrupting the kett’s rhetoric about greatness, and snarling. The fury in her eyes had sent what felt like a bolt of lightning racing down his spine and his neck warmed thinking about it now. 

_“Except I am gonna fuck. Your. Shit. Up,” she growled, almost nose to nose with the kett. “How’s_ that _for great?”_  

Jaal was glad that he’d had the short-term recorder going on his visor. Someday, he might work up the courage to show that footage to Sara; he might even have the words to explain to her that that moment—that one sentence, spoken not like someone trying to win approval but cold and hard, like a _fact_ —gave him more hope for the Angara’s war against the kett than any number of previous victories. Evfra and Sjefa had doubts, but Jaal had heard the strength and condemnation in Ryder’s voice. 

She was firmly on their side, and he was grateful.

_Visibly_ _shaken, the cardinal spoke the release command into her communicator. She bowed her head towards Sara, shoulders slumping. Jaal thought it might be the first genuine emotion he’d ever seen from a kett; he was impressed they still had emotions, after what they’d discovered in this forsaken place._  

_“Jaal, have the Resistance free as many as they can before the kett arrive,” Sara said softly. Pride and a weary kind of joy flooded his heart, and he let his hand brush over her shoulder as he turned._  

_“I will,” he replied. “And_ thank _you.”_  

_“I thank you, too,” the cardinal said, voice still trembling; Jaal could still hear the exchange as he strode away_ _. “I see you begin to understand the gift that the kett bring to Andromeda.”_  

_Curiously_ _, Jaal turned; he had to see the women’s expressions to such ridiculousness._

_And he wasn’t disappointed._

_Sara’s nose wrinkled, her lip curled up. He might not know all the expressions of humans yet, but that one was sneering disdain and he’d have bet his entire life savings_ and _his kett rifle on it_ _. Vetra showed disgust in her expression, a different look than Sara’s, with lowered brow plates and mandibles tight to her jaw, visibly recoiling from the suggestion that exaltation was anything less than abomination._  

_“Not likely.” Sara calmly raised her rifle as the cardinal turned away, delivering one last, clean shot to the kett’s temple._  

_Jaal smiled as he looked away and began the evacuation, relief making him almost light-headed_ _._  

He turned the bowl against the towel, thinking as he dried. Sjefa didn’t trust Ryder yet. That might not have stung, if he hadn’t spent so much time with her himself. Sjefa had suffered in that facility, and to most Angara, the humans were as alien as the kett. Both species could be seen as invaders, and many were still questioning the humans’ motives. 

Jaal couldn’t blame Sjefa for wanting it destroyed. And he knew Ryder had struggled with the choice, had seen the warring emotions written on her face. But Sara had seen the need to give back to the Angaran people, had understood that they needed hope as much as victory. 

So she’d chosen to give them back their taken. 

It was a choice Jaal supported. He was… proud of Ryder. From what the Tempest’s crew had shared with him, Ryder had been thrust into the role of Pathfinder—something she was, for all her talent and luck, unprepared for—right after losing her father. And her brother, her twin, was in a medical sleep. That she still showed such kindness, such warmth and compassion, not only for the humans stranded without homes here in Heleus but also his own people, spoke volumes about her strength. 

Jaal couldn’t imagine such strength of will, if he were honest with himself. Of all his siblings, he was the more emotional. Even his true mother knew this. So he knew that were their roles somehow reversed—he the alien in a new galaxy, with no home, and having lost his only family—he would not have fared half as well. 

Something told him that Sara was exceptional, even among humans. 

He replaced the bowl back into the small cabinet, still lost in thought as he stepped into the hallway and grabbed the tiny ladder. He could hear Suvi murmuring in her sleep, one of the few to use the crew quarters for its purpose. Gil more often threw some blankets down near the drive core and passed out, Liam and Vetra had taken up residence in the cargo bay, and he and Cora had both claimed the rooms off of the command center. Drack was much too large to fit on a crew bunk, so was often found in the cargo bay, or the galley, which appeared to have become his territory. 

He wasn’t yet sure where Kallo slept—or _if_ Kallo slept, actually—but was absolutely sure it wasn’t in the crew quarters. 

Five rungs up, he heard something through the bulkhead that made him pause. 

Sara was crying. 

Jaal bit his lower lip, wondering. He heard, more than she would be comfortable knowing, how much pain was in her voice. His first instinct was to go to her and see if he could offer comfort; that was what Angara did, after all, when one of them was in such pain. But she had told him before that humans sometimes preferred to hide their emotions. He found this tendency completely illogical—far too much chance that someone could be significantly hurt—but it made him wonder. Would she reject him? 

He heard her hiccup on a sob, a choked sound of grief and despair, and the decision was all but made for him. 

Jaal dropped from the ladder and stepped in front of her door, knocking softly. “Ryder?” he called. 

There was no answer, although the sounds from the room cut off sharply. 

Jaal turned to the omni-tool she’d given him, opening up SAM’s channel. A miniature blue icon activated. “SAM, can you please tell Ryder I’d like to see her?”

“The Pathfinder is not feeling well at the moment,” the AI replied instantly. “She is trying to rest.”

“SAM, I can hear her crying through the door,” Jaal murmured.

The omni-tool went quiet and dark, the AI not responding, but the door to the Pathfinder Quarters slid open. Sara stood there, her hair falling around her shoulders in fluffy waves instead of pulled back. Jaal looked and, aside from red-rimmed eyes, she looked much the same she had at the crew dinner.

“Hey Jaal,” she bubbled, bouncing a little on her toes and giving him a smile. “Late night wandering again?”

Taken aback, Jaal frowned. “I—are you well, Sara?”

“Fine!” She smiled at him, and he was almost certain she lied; he could see the tension in her neck, although she hid it well. Jaal reached out slowly, feeling the tightness in his newly-healed shoulder wound, and laid his hand on her shoulder. Though her face stayed in the same cheerful expression, her hand crept up and wrapped around his with surprising strength.

“I hope you do not feel the need to lie to me, Sara, dearest,” he said with a small smile. “I told you before that Angara are free with our emotions.”

“I--” He could see the process on her face as she contemplated another false reassurance. Then she pushed her hair back from her face and blew out a deep breath, looking down the hallway to see if anyone else was awake. “Come on in,” she said quietly, letting his hand drop and stepping back.

As he stepped in, she turned and walked to the couch—Jaal remembered the word from Liam bemoaning how no one wanted to help him move his—and sat, sinking into the padding and pulling her knees up near her chest. As Jaal sat on the other end, she wrapped her uninjured arm around her legs and rested her head on her knees. A distant part of him was impressed that human legs allowed for such flexibility; he wouldn’t have thought so from their single-joint limbs.

“You look tired,” he murmured, hands closing; it was too tempting to reach out and touch her and he wasn’t sure of her boundaries yet. Though she hadn't jerked away when he'd touched her before.

“Well, it _is_ past midnight,” she laughed in exhaustion. “And we did beat up a bunch of kett today.”

Jaal hesitated. Not knowing human communication patterns well enough was starting to drive him mad. He wanted to comfort her and take the pain from her shoulders; she had done something wonderful for his people today, and their friendship had left him with a protective streak. 

“This,” he hedged, “seems to be more than that. I have seen you after battles before and you seem… small, somehow.” 

Sara chuckled but it was mirthless and hollow. The sound pained Jaal’s heart; Sara had a face meant for smiles and laughter, not for brittleness. 

“Your Moshae doesn’t like me,” she said, idly scratching at the cast that held her arm as it mended. “She wanted to destroy the facility.” 

“Sjefa had suffered there,” Jaal agreed quietly. “I think if I had suffered as she had, I might want it destroyed, too.”

Sara flinched, bowing her forehead to her knees. She took a deep breath and he could feel, even from where he sat, a slight change in her body’s current. He heard a quiet, wet sniffle, and knew she was crying again.

_Damn this,_ he thought, scooting closer and brushing his palm down her leg. _I have to at least try._

“Sara…”

When she didn’t pull away, but her crying had quieted, he gently tugged on her hand until her head came up and she met his eyes.

“Sara, you made the right choice,” he said, hesitantly cupping her cheek and wiping away a tear. “It was hard, to look into a tortured woman’s face, and deny her a preferred vengeance. It has… hurt you deeply. But I promise you, in time, Sjefa will see that giving the Angara hope—and saving our people—was the better option.

“If you had blown the facility,” Jaal continued, smiling when she rubbed her cheek on his palm absently, her eyes fixed on his, “it was not only the Angara in pods that would have perished. Soldiers, scientists, people of the Resistance would also have been caught in the blast.”

“…but the way she looked at me, Jaal,” Sara began, a shudder going through her; another tear leaked out and rolled over his fingers. “I tried to explain and she--”

“I know,” he murmured, aching for her. “Sjefa will see in time. She needs to heal in body and in heart. Being among her people will help this.”

Sara sighed, another pained frown crossing her face; Jaal sensed she was thinking of her family. “Yeah, having your own people tends to help.” She scrubbed at her face and looked at him. “This is going to sound pretty pathetic, but can I come over there with you?”

“Why would that be pathetic?” Jaal asked, bemused. “Is physical comfort not something humans do?”

“We do, but it tends to be with friends and family,” Sara answered, her cheeks turning a little pink. “I consider you a friend but I wouldn’t want to… impose.” She kept talking, the words coming rushed and clearly embarrassed. “My arm is killing me and it feels a little silly, to want to curl up on someone’s lap, you know? I’m supposed to be some kind of leader, the human face we’re showing to Heleus and here I am, unable to--”

Jaal rolled his eyes and tugged her by her upper arms, almost lifting her completely, and deposited her securely on his lap. Her lips parted in a small o as she stared at him and, as he registered her warmth through his clothing, he found himself distantly wondering whether humans kissed the way Angara did.

* * *

_Holy shit, he moves fast._

Sara didn’t have a lot of coherent thought when she was tired; it was something she and Scott had teased and fought about as children. Sleep deprived and caffeine deprived, her mind tended to get bouncy and erratic, and sometimes led to bad decisions. Pain-- and the painkillers Lexi had given her-- thrown into the mix wasn't helping.

For instance, straddling the lap of their attractive alien liaison was _probably_ _a bad decision_.

She could feel her heart pound in her chest and found herself entranced by the small flicker in his throat that could have been a pulse or a purr or who knew what else. Sara swallowed with some difficulty, wetting her suddenly dry lips, as she tried to regain her balance.

“That’s… not quite what I meant,” she stammered, smoothing her palms nervously down his chest. 

Jaal tilted his head and looked at her from half-lowered lids. Was he smirking? 

“Yet you do not seem to object,” he said softly. “Have I... crossed a line? Is this a poor position for humans? Are you not comfortable?” 

Oh, the places her mind went with that. _He’s definitely smirking. No way he doesn’t know what he’s implying_ , she thought faintly, cheeks warming under his curious gaze. 

“No, it’s not-- _I’m_ not-- it’s just--” Sara could hear the rising note in her voice, and wanted to hide in the nearest supply closet. Wrapped up in embarrassment, she jerked in shock when SAM tapped into their private channel. 

_Sara, your heart-rate is spiking and your core temperature has risen almost two full degrees_ _. Should I page Doctor T’Perro?_  

“Christ, SAM, no!” she hissed, mortified. Another smirking encounter with Lexi was something to be avoided as long as possible. The AI was pensive for a moment and Sara swore she could almost  _feel_ him analyzing the situation; she wondered if her father had experienced the same thing. 

_I see,_ SAM said, his electronic voice somehow managing to sound amused and slightly smug; Jaal looked at her in concern, then nodded when he understood that SAM was talking to her in private. _You are experiencing sexual attraction rather than an illness._  

“SAM, could you maybe shut up?” Sara whispered, her whole face going hot. 

Jaal leaned back his head and chuckled, giving her a mouth-watering view of the tendons in his neck; his hands rested on her back, but there was nothing to indicate his intentions. 

In fact, there was nothing even terribly suggestive about their position, if she thought about it from a non-human perspective; humans had a tendency to sexualize everything, something their non-human compatriots thought either hilarious or stupid. Usually both. While she struggled to compose herself, she was distracted by the fact that where their bodies touched, she tingled. Not enough to be irritating or disturbing, but enough to notice. She remembered hearing Jaal talk to Lexi about Angaran bioelectricity and hastily shut that train of thought down before she could embarrass herself further. 

_So… he can make me tingle. His neck makes me want to take a bite somewhere. And his damn hands almost span my back. Yeah, I might be in actual trouble._  

With a huff, Sara pushed herself up from his thighs-- _those thighs, though_ , she thought to herself-- and swung her legs over his, leaning her good side into his chest. To his credit, Jaal held himself still until she got comfortable, bracing her only when she wobbled.

“Better?” he asked, voice rumbling through his chest and against her ear. When she nodded in the affirmative, he raised his hands. “And where would you like these?” 

_Um, everywhere?_  

Sara choked as her traitor of a brain came up with at least five suggestive solutions-- and one incredibly lewd one she stored for later perusal-- before she was able to think out an answer. 

“Just. Uh. Just… like… here,” she stuttered, guiding his hands around her shoulder and waist. Where he touched her, there was a slight intensification of the tingling before it settled back to the barely-discernible pulse it had been before.

* * *

They sat that way-- curled together, his hands a warm, comforting weight on her skin-- for a long while. She ended up with the top of her head tucked under his chin, and his arm bracing the small of her back as he drew small, idle circles on her hip. Feeling warm and safe, Sara tucked her legs up against him and snuggled in with a yawn. 

“You seem more relaxed,” Jaal said, his voice soft. When she looked up, his eyes were sleepy and heavy-lidded.

"It feels nice,” she whispered, laying her head back down. “I sometimes feel like I have to be The Pathfinder all the time. What happens when I hurt?” She felt her eyes prickle, and swiped wearily at them. “If I’m busy trying to keep things running, who do I turn to when I need patching up?”

“Who would you normally allow to support you?” Jaal asked, smoothing a hand down her hair.

Sara took a minute to answer, her throat closing around the words. “I wasn't very close to my dad, not for lack of trying. So... Scott, usually. Twins tend to be pretty close and… he always knew when I was faking being okay for someone else.”

Jaal nodded, a hum in his throat that unwound the knot between Sara’s shoulders. He ran a hand down her cast and she felt the faint electricity settle in her arm, warming it-- and soothing the sting of her rapidly mending bones.

“I have a sister like this as well,” he said. “She is always too good at seeing through me. Angara do not hide their emotions, but…” He trailed off with a wry chuckle. “I am more emotional than many of my siblings.”

He rubbed his chin against her temple, then tilted her face to his. For a brief, toe-curling moment, Sara thought he might kiss her, and panicked on what her reaction should be; she didn't think she'd object on a personal level, but the possible amount of First Contact rules that would be breaking were staggering. Tann would almost certainly have a box a kittens and Kesh would have her hands full if Sara caused Tann to croak.

Jaal's breath ghosted across her forehead as he spoke, interrupting her dazed thought.

“I would… like to be here for you,” he murmured. “When you hurt.”

“What?” She asked, blinking tiredly. _Dammit, Sara, focus!_

“You asked who you could come to for ‘patching up,’” Jaal reminded her, his palm stroking down her back. “When you find yourself weary and tired, you can always come to me.”

Stunned and moved beyond words, Sara just smiled at him and wound her fingers through his.

* * *

The ache in his legs woke him from sleep. With a groan, Jaal tried moving them, but they were numb and weighed down, and he could feel every ache from the ordeal in the kett facility screaming at him. With a sigh, Jaal opened his eyes and found, not the matte metal of the tech lab where he’d been sleeping, but a wide window and-- in the distance-- passing stars. It was a hell of a view in the darkness of the room before he remembered that the tech lab didn't technically  _have_ a view.

_What?_

Jaal looked down and found Ryder, wrapped around his waist with her face pressed into the arm of her couch and one hand loosely curled around his. He replayed the events from last night, and realized they must have fallen asleep talking. He felt a swell of affection warm him at the trust she exhibited. To allow him to see her this way-- vulnerable, and so defenseless-- put an odd tremble in his hands as he carefully lifted her from his lap and hesitated, his legs protesting.

He’d have hissed if it wouldn’t have woken her; sensation had come roaring back with a painful sting. As he gritted his teeth and waited, he noticed how well Sara fit in his arms. It was almost effortless to hold her, this delicate, dear alien. She shifted in his grip, turning her face towards him and sighing. Jaal stared, fascinated, as her expression pinched and smoothed.

When he thought he could stand without breaking any of the nearby furniture, he arranged her on the other end of the small couch, careful of her cast, and attempted to smooth the wrinkles from his _rofjinn_.

Jaal froze when the door to the cabin slid open before he could ask SAM to check the hallway.

Doctor T’Perro stood there, a datapad in hand and a growing smile on her face as she took in Sara, asleep on the couch, and Jaal, with obviously slept-in clothing, standing over her. He looked for condemnation on her face, but didn't see anything. 

“Good morning, Jaal,” she said, careful not to be loud. “I was just coming to check on Moshae Sjefa and thought I’d stop in and see how the Pathfinder was first.” She peered around him and her face softened. “She’s a bit of a terrible patient, our Ryder.” 

Unsure of what he could say that wouldn’t cause an incident, Jaal just nodded and hurried past the asari doctor. Drack grunted at him from the galley kitchen, the smell of something sweet coming from the stove, but Jaal fled up the ladder before the krogan could get a word out. Liam and Vetra were in the command center, each tending to their own projects. 

“Morning, Jaal,” Liam yawned, the greeting muffled around his hand. 

“Yes. It is. Morning, I mean,” Jaal stumbled, causing both of them to stare at him. “Good morning.” 

He turned and strode into the tech lab, relaxing only when the door had shut behind him. 

“What was that?” Jaal hissed at the omni-tool where the SAM icon had activated, indicating the AI was active and listening. “I had to ask to get in but you didn’t tell Doctor T’Perro to wait a moment?”

“You are not the ship’s doctor,” SAM replied, a smug note in his voice. “And Sara was close to waking. I had thought to spare the two of you some awkwardness. Until you’re more practiced, at any rate.”

Jaal blinked. He thought about what Sara’s reaction had been to even asking him to touch her outside of a mission, and then realized that waking together in her quarters might have caused her some distress, indeed. 

Then he thought about the warmth of her skin, and how she felt wrapped around him in sleep, and realized that he would... very much like to experience it again. He remembered how her eyes had locked on his and her lips had parted.

What might she look like the next time, if they had a bit more time to get to know one another?

“Also,” the AI continued, interrupting the pleasant thought, “you have received a new email from your mother.”

“Perfect,” Jaal murmured. “Exactly who I need to speak to.”

**Author's Note:**

> Y'all, Jaal and Sara are going to be the actual death of me. I just finished my first playthrough of the game and they are the cutest thing. I had this headcanon that my Ryder, while cheerful and affectionate, is also a hot mess when it comes to emotions. Especially without Scott there to ground her. And Jaal is just the sweetest-- he goes into the Tempest situation prepared to be wary and distrustful and ends up as this adorable dork who just throws his entire extended family at Sara. 
> 
> I kind of see this as the pre-cursor to him asking her to meet his mother and siblings.


End file.
